May - 2016

GFS Social Event - May, 2016

GFS held a social event last week - a round robin table tennis competition at The University of Queensland. Lab members were randomly put into pairs, and then battled it out for five entertaining rounds of first-to-11 table tennis. The two most successful teams from these five rounds won through to the final match. James W and Kendall started in unconvincing fashion, but gathered momentum as the rounds progressed to win straight through to the final. James A and Sarah showed

GFS turns one!

We're celebrating one year as a collaborative, diverse and supportive research group! We're looking forward to seeing how the lab grows and matures in the coming years.

An economist, a scientist and a lawyer walk into a bar...

It was with great excitement and humility that two Green Fire Science lab members, Bonnie Mappin and Sean Maxwell, attended the 2016 Wentworth Group Science Program last week. Created in 2001, the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists is an independent collection of eminent Australian scientists, economists and business people with interests in conserving Australia’s biodiversity and natural resources. The group has been fundamental in multiple land and water policy reforms

Modeling Reef Fish Biomass, Recovery Potential, and Management Priorities in the Western Indian Ocea

McClanahan TR, Maina JM, Graham NAJ, Jones KR (2016) Modeling Reef Fish Biomass, Recovery Potential, and Management Priorities in the Western Indian Ocean. PLoS ONE 11(5): e0154585. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154585 Fish biomass is a primary driver of coral reef ecosystem services and has high sensitivity to human disturbances, particularly fishing. Estimates of fish biomass, their spatial distribution, and recovery potential are important for evaluating reef status and cruci

Testing the effectiveness of surrogate species for conservation planning in the Greater Virunga Land

Jones, K.R., Plumptre, A., Watson, J.E.M., Possingham, H.P., Ayebare, S., Rwetsiba, A.,Wanyama, F., Kujirakwinja, D. and C. J. Klein (2016). Testing the Effectiveness of Surrogate Species for Conservation Planning in the Greater Virunga Landscape, Africa. Landscape and Urban Planning, 145: 1 – 11. Given the limited funds available, spatial prioritisation is necessary to help decide when and where to undertake conservation. One method for setting local scale priorities for co

'We may not survive' - UN issues dire warning over climate change

Fire regimes are changing in both Australia and Brazil

Ambitious and holistic goals key to saving Earth’s biodiversity, study says

How Australia Can Rise From The Ashes

Change in terrestrial human footprint drives continued loss of intact ecosystems

Minimising the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an intact landscape under risk of.....

World’s protected areas lack connections, recent study finds

Study finds a Mexico-sized swath of intact land lost to human pressure

Planetary ‘safety net’ could halt wildlife loss and slow climate breakdown

Isolation of protected areas a major blind spot in habitat conservation